Interior Design shoot with Interior Affairs & Johnston

ok, i know this is rather confusing to everyone because of the sheer number of photography sessions we have, so let's give u some background first.

the shoot we did at Bukit Timah Saddle Club was done by Melvin Gilbert Photography - this set was not planned, but it was a great deal PLUS Melvin's trained in the Southern Californian style which i absolutely adore (thanks to Jade, heh). so we took some fun shots with him, in case we needed to use some photos to print our cards or something.

last week our interior designers came and took pictures of Homie! i think that was the worst week, we had so many last minute things to purchase but somehow, just somehow... we managed to gather everything in one single day. here are the documented changes (and the heartpain of spending so much money, and 4 hours in Ikea):

1. our corridor is now lined with black frames of ourselves/concert photos - this was supposed to be our concert wall but we have less awesome pictures than we'd thought... or it could be that the corridor is just too long. the frames from Ikea set us back by quite some. sigh. also not to mention we had all of one day to choose, edit and get our photos printed.

2. our living room - we bought a huge canvas print of a street view of New York featuring the Flatiron (pronounced Flat Iron. and yes i called it Flati-ron before alvin laughed at me. T_T) Building. set us back by $300+ but it looks so freaking amazing because it's the exact right size. everytime i look at it i get a little mind-boggled coz it's as if there's a HUGE window in our living room that looks out into New York.




















(heh heh, this is such a teaser - u can only see 30% of the loving room!)

3. our living room - we also got a coffee table with castor wheels which is so important for our frequent xbox parties... we need furniture that can be easily rearranged! also, the glass top was the same good glass on our dining table and so they match! set us back by $179. very cheap for a coffee table with good acid treated glass and smooth wheels.

4. various accessories like vases, fake flowers, plant pots, fake plants, real plants, diningware, kitchenware, stools, throw cushions, our pretend table-runner (just a piece of folded cloth, actually), and a small side table for the balcony...

TOTAL WAS 1.3K FROM IKEA ALEXANDRA ALONE. besides the expenditure of money that gave me a headache, carrying the items back almost killed us but thank God for 3 things...

1. my 2 designers who were incredibly enthusiastic and passionate - Faith was really sick but she was a trooper and went around everywhere with us. they also helped us carry everything back to Homie and set up some items before leaving. incredibly, we also got a maxi cab from the taxi queue. WOW.

2. alvin who came all the way from his reservist to come and help us at the other end of the island. this also made us skip cell coz we were stranded at ikea with no vehicle. :(

2. also my dad who's located at The Anchorage with his VAN. I WAS SO HAPPY AND RELIEVED. I LOVE U DADDY. and then on Friday he brought everything to us in his van and even offered to help us with our things but i chased him off so he could have dinner with my family. that same weekend he struck 4D. hahahahaha

we also managed to get the outdoor furniture people to lend us their existing set for the photoshoot while we waited for the new rocking bench. we brought it in, cleaned it up and set it up in our balcony. it's perfect. they even delivered that to Homie and left it outside for us to receive the next day as we were stranded thanks to the heavy downpour.

on that saturday itself things got a little crazy. we had to set up the canvas, all the photo frames, coffee table and make our bed presentable in the span of 3 hours. before that, the landscaping guys also came to repair our pump (it failed to work again once we turned it off after the shoot) and after all this, we still had to clean up the entire house and make it presentable. this meant that everything unsightly had to be hidden from view, so things were unceremoniously stuffed into the TV console drawers, kitchen cabinets, plastic bags and boxes relegated to bedrooms 2 & 3 etc.

we had such a hard time finding our things after the photoshoot. -_-"'

but Homie was completely transformed. it looked like a boutique apartment and actually a little hipster, a little arty farty thanks to the canvas, feature lights and vintage wall mounted phone. suddenly, only the balcony was kept whimsical but oh, how much i love the balcony with all the blooming flowers (YES THEY ARE ALL BLOOMING, YAY), running water and cute cute cute outdoor furniture.

i really want to show you pictures but they're not ready yet and i can't really capture the essence nor have the correct angle. but here're a few shots of what we have.















the balcony before everything came in






























flowers!! they are thriving!!
















the outdoor set outside the master bedroom, from Lalu. we even bought the tablecloths that accompanied the table.





















our rocking bench from Candy Floricuture (sharon was great - look for her!)















our vinyl clock, can you see 2 cats? :)

there was so much more craziness that i didn't go into detail, like alvin running about the whole day just to get all the last minute things (apples! paper! blutac! more photos! cakes! lunch! bulbs!), how the canvas was put up impromptu without the correct wall mounts, 10 of our bulbs blew, and how i thought the quilt cover was the bedsheet (er let's not go there.)

but it was so fulfilling at the end of the day. i really thank God for His showers of blessing.

i love u, Homie.